A medical device can be implanted in a body to perform one or more tasks including monitoring, detecting, or sensing physiological information in or otherwise associated with the body, diagnosing a physiological condition or disease, treating or providing a therapy for a physiological condition or disease, or restoring or otherwise altering the function of an organ or a tissue. Examples of an implantable medical device can include a cardiac rhythm management device, such as a pacemaker, a cardiac resynchronization therapy device, a cardioverter or defibrillator, a neurological stimulator, a neuromuscular stimulator, or a drug delivery system.
In various examples, cardiac rhythm or function management devices can sense intrinsic heart contractions, deliver pacing pulses to evoke responsive heart contractions, or deliver a shock to interrupt certain arrhythmias. In certain examples, one or more of these functions can help improve a patient's heart rhythm or can help coordinate a spatial nature of a heart contraction, either of which can improve cardiac output of blood to help meet the patient's metabolic need for such cardiac output.
Some cardiac rhythm or function management devices can be configured to deliver energy at or near the His bundle to achieve pacing via natural conduction pathways, such as via Purkinje fiber conduction of electrical impulses. Various methods for verification of cardiac capture have been proposed. For example, Zhu et al. PCT Patent Publication No. WO 2010/071849, entitled DEVICES, METHODS, AND SYSTEMS INCLUDING CARDIAC PACING, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, refers to determining the effectiveness or completeness of His-bundle capture using attributes of a QRS signal, such as QRS narrowing, or using mechanical or hemodynamic sensors.
Dong et al. U.S. Patent Application No. 61/328,248 entitled HIS-BUNDLE CAPTURE VERIFICATION AND MONITORING, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, refers to His-bundle capture verification using hemodynamic sensors such as heart sound or blood pressure sensors.